INDONESIA: Report Heightens Pollution Dispute with Newmont Miningby Jane Perlez, New York TimesNovember 8th, 2004A government panel presented a bitterly fought-over report on Monday showing that sediment in the equatorial bay where the world's biggest gold producer, Newmont Mining Corporation, deposited mine waste is polluted with significant levels of arsenic and mercury. But the panel found the water quality met Indonesian standards.

SOUTH AFRICA: DeBeers Pleads Guilty to Price-Fixing by Margaret Webb Pressler, Washington PostJuly 14th, 2004DeBeers SA, the huge diamond company, pleaded guilty yesterday to price fixing and agreed to pay $10 million to settle a 10-year-old indictment, which paves the way for the company to start doing business directly with the American market.

World: WB to Work on Oil, Gas and Mining ProjectsFinancial TimesFebruary 26th, 2004The president of the World Bank and his management colleagues will reject several of the crucial recommendations of a review about the extractive industries - oil, gas and mining - they themselves instituted. In particular, they will oppose the idea that the Bank should phase out all oil projects within five years.

Indonesia: Tensions in Mining Operationsby Kafil Yamin, Inter Press ServiceFebruary 23rd, 2004The government and Dayak villagers have called in fresh troops as tension intensifies over disputed mining operations on Sebuku, an island of some 3,000 residents in central Indonesia.

Iceland: Power Drivenby Susan De Muth, The GuardianNovember 29th, 2003In Iceland, work has already begun on a colossal $1bn dam which, when it opens in 2007, will cover a highland wilderness - and all to drive one US smelter. Environmentalists are furious, but the government appears determined to push through the project, whatever the cost

Vanuatu: Reefs at Risk After Disney Filmby David Fickling, Guardian (London)November 21st, 2003A booming trade in aquarium fish, sparked by Finding Nemo, the Disney film featuring clownfish, is endangering the wildlife of the Vanuatu archipelago in the South Pacific. Over the past year about 200,000 fish and other marine creatures have been exported from the country, and local tour firms are warning that the reefs will be at risk if the tropical fish trade is not regulated.

SOUTH AFRICA: Tribe Wins Rights to Diamond-Rich Landby Rory Carroll, The Guardian (London)October 15th, 2003A South African tribal community robbed of its land in the 19th century yesterday won a court battle to regain land and mineral rights to diamonds that could be worth billions of pounds.

Brazil: Battling for the Environmentby Paulo Cabral, BBC Brazilian ServiceAugust 20th, 2003The virtual disappearance of a waterfall at Brazil's Paulo Afonso gorge - once called "Brazil's Niagara" by Victorian explorer Richard Burton - is perhaps the most visible of a number of changes along the Sao Francisco river made in order to generate hydroelectric power.

India: River Plans Spark Furoreby Jyotsna Singh, BBCAugust 19th, 2003India's plans to link major rivers in the region to provide water to arid states are causing a furore among its neighbours and environmentalists. Indian officials insist that the project is at a very early stage and that concerned neighbours will be consulted before the plans are firmed up.

Lesotho: Water Troubles Building ResentmentBBCAugust 6th, 2003For the past six years Anna Moepi and her sister have been scratching a living in a village a few kilometres from the capital of Lesotho, Maseru. These woman are one of the many people whos homeland was flooded due to a massive water project that was undertaken in the area.

Ghana: Anti-Mining Activists Threatened and Harrassedby Mike Anane, Environment News ServiceJuly 30th, 2003The National Coalition of Civil Society Groups Against Mining in Ghana Forest Reserves has condemned what coalition members describe as deliberate and horrific acts of harassment directed at two of their colleagues by Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited, the district chief executive of Adansi West, and a number of the traditional rulers in the Obuasi area.

India: Coke Adds Life?by Paul Vallely, Jon Clarke and Liz Stuart in Kerala, Independent/UKJuly 25th, 2003Three years ago, the little patch of land in the green, picturesque rolling hills of Palakkad in the Indian state of Kerala yielded 50 sacks of rice and 1,500 coconuts a year. It provided work for dozens of labourers. Then Coca-Cola arrived and built a 40-acre bottling plant next door.

Liberia: Civilians Seek Ban on Natural Resources TradeEnvironment News ServiceJuly 22nd, 2003A halt to extraction and trade of Liberian gold, diamonds and timber would help stop the fighting that has killed at least 600 civilians in the capital in the past five days, according to the Environmental Lawyers Association of Liberia and two other nongovernmental organizations.